I think it is the nature of the beast, and the way people communicate.
Sometimes I spend hours if not day researching something technical. Post it and hardly a comment. At best a like or two.
Post a snarky comment in a thread like this and I get 30 likes.
I think people are here more for entertainment than anything else.
I have become quite fond of the 'tell me about my hit and run watch posts' The historical data on the official site is sorely lacking in detail. Especially with the thousands of variations in dials and dyles.
I personally have always enjoyed the bottom of the barrelel basket cases. Repainted watches and fantasy dials do not bother me. When I started this was the norm. People wanted shiny watches with clean dials for use.
Now with time on demand via cellphones and smart watches. The infulencers want to increase the value of the untouched examples. Such happens in any 'collector' society. Certain collectables are the tokens of admission to the club.
Who is to argue with 10,000 of thousands of years of earning trust from strangers?
The one downside with the popularity with things like the 'Omega' brand what is somewhat being socially engineered. Is that I have to pay more for the rusted ratty watches I like to play with.
I just found one of my seamasters has a repainted (Switzerland under the furniture) dial. I thought it had a gouge on it which is in the photographs. Not only that the crystal is probably wrong, and the inside ring does not fit. I have had this watch at least 24 years. More like 30. I also found that it is not an automatic.
Still it is a nice watch. This may have been the one I sent out in the 1990s for dial work and was dissapointed in the result. Or it could have been that way when I got it. I also found it was not an automatic. Which in some ways makes me like it a bit more. On the other hand I do not like the gold color and the spindly lugs
I though perhaps the movement or dial was not correct for the case. I was able to find the ref on the omega vintage site. This watch thoug is a frontloader. So I am not quite sure what is going on here.
I personally do not have any problem with frankenwatches. I find them entertaining. Such watches are what I can afford.
Others find them tantamount to fraud and theft. The factory restricts parts now to limit their creation. In some ways this is not that different from the idea that people who show up for work 5 minutes late and leave 5 minutes early are stealing from the company.
Perhaps if punctuality was still valued, this could be a point. Nowadays with so much based on intellectual property and brand design. The only commodity that has any values is dreams. My school got a ciest and desists letter because I drew a picture of snoopy on a poster and that was in the 1960. There are cases of Disney suing daycare centers. Rollex also sues schools for using Popsicle stick finger painted clocks used to tell time.
Sure there are things made with an intent to deceive, I think that is something else entirely. Given how much time and effor I put into my 'toys' such things do not come for free. There is much time and cost involved. Children like to copy and imitate others. (which may be why threads like this are popular.) What is cute when one is 12, may not be so much when one is 40 or 50. And might even be illegal. Still modern society rewards mimeriky. We can not tell the difference between clowns and god as both are equally creepy.
There are people who simply collect ideas (patents, musical composition and other intangibles.) then use the 'collection' as a loan guarantee. All in the name of intelletual property rights and protecting the 'little guy.' Some of this gets really Orwellian at times.
Anything you tell me three times is true.
